Native 5 LW Weirdness (or not?)

[ASmitty]

I recently bought a Native 5 LW. I haven't had one of these since the original incarnation in S35VN steel which I sold years ago. On this new one, I'm experiencing something a bit weird. If the handle screw that goes in directly beneath the lockbar is in and screwed to normal tightness, the action becomes very stiff and hard to open. If I remove this handle screw, the action is great. Is it normal on the Native 5s for a body screw to have this much effect on the action? I'm currently carrying it without the screw in, but not sure I want to do that long term.

[Sharp Guy]

I currently have 6 Native 5 LWs and haven't experienced this issue with any of them. My first was a Native 5 LW with S35VN. I bought it used and well broken in and I think it's still my favorite. I have it in my pocket today. Just used it to cut up a beer box haha

[Fastidiotus]

Just out of curiosity is your knife dlc coated? My dlc s30v version had this exact issue, my s110v version came out of the box silky smooth.

My solution was to artificially break it in. I took a fine metal file and removed some of the scale material, on both scales, that was making contact with the lock bar. I then went over it with green 3m scuff pad to smooth it out. That was the major fix to my problem.

While I had it apart I also removed most of the dlc coating where the lock spring contacts the lock bar and slightly rounded off the the harsh squared off end of the lock spring where it contacts the lockbar. The knife is now just as smooth as my s110v.

Sounds like a lot of work but in reality it took maybe 10 minutes to study the issue and 10 minutes to solve it. For me I had the tools so it cost me nothing and it personally wasn't worth sending it off to warranty because the Native 5 is just too easy to take apart and reassemble, your mileage may vary.

[zhyla]

My Native Chief LW is the stiffest Spyderco I’ve ever owned. I haven’t entirely figured out why. Maybe I should play with that screw.

[kobold]

Did you try disassembling and cleaning yet?

[Ramonade]

I had this issue with one of mine, tightening the screw just beside the lockbar made the lockbar harder to move.
I disassembled everything and then retightened everything, backing the responsible screw a bit whilz making sure to not loose it with some loctite.

Disassembly would also show you if there's something abnormal in the FRN that could be responsible for this harder to actionate lockbar.

[zhyla]

My Native Chief LW is the stiffest Spyderco I’ve ever owned. I haven’t entirely figured out why. Maybe I should play with that screw.

Confirmed same issue on the Chief LW. No wonder I had so much issue with the action.

[ASmitty]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I really appreciate the help. Good to know I'm not the only one who has experienced this issue. Rather than trying to fix it, I opted to exchange for a new one with the seller. The new Native functions the way I'd expect.